Chapter 49

- Xenon -

I had been observing our group's behavior for the last few hours, to see what everybody thought. Daryl clearly didn't care about what anybody thought, choosing to remain alone, doing his own thing. I was surprised when he actually went to speak to Carol, offering her comforting words, telling her if he was there for her if she needed anything.

Jacqui, Andrea, Amy and Lori had their own discussion as well. Lori supported her husband's idea, and so did Jacqui. Andrea and Amy disagreed, believing it was foolish to still hope for the government to save them given the state the country was in, especially since they witnessed how Atlanta was bombed when it all went to hell.

Jim, Theodore and Glenn also liked the CDC idea, agreeing that they could get out of there worst case scenario. And we did have enough food and fuel to last us a while. As for Morales... He didn't participate at all. I didn't see him or his wife most of the day. I did see Shane speaking with Lori, I wasn't sure of what was being said. We were gathered by the camp fire in the evening, to finalize our plans.

"I've been thinking about Rick's plan." Shane began, though there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. "Now look, there are no... guarantees either way, I'll be the first to admit that. I've known this man a long time... I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So, those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning."

Evidently, he didn't bother with a vote, because the odds were in their favor already, and everyone knew that. Therefore, no one bothered making a scene.

"We're... We're not going." Morales said, drawing the attention to him.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." His wife added.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane warned.

"We'll take the chance." Morales nodded. "I gotta do what's best for my family."

"Are you sure?" Rick asked with a frown. He obviously didn't like the idea of losing manpower.

"We've talked about it." Morales answered. "We're sure."

Rick said something to Shane, before they brought him a revolver and a box of ammo.

"Box is half full." Shane said.

"Tch..." Daryl shook his head exasperatedly. He was probably wondering what sin he committed to be stuck with these idiots with no other choice...

"Thank you all... For everything." Miranda said emotionally, and what followed was hugs and wishes of good luck and well-being. We go to work, packing everything we would need for the trip. We were lucky we had a truck and a big van, as we would've had to leave a lot of things behind otherwise.

I was deep in thought the whole time, thinking about different scenarios and what I could do in each one of them. What happened in the show is a toughie, I'll be the first to admit. If I do go in with them, my life will be relying on the whim of a suicidal man who wants to take everyone else with him. I didn't believe I could convince him to let me out, and the thought of not being in control of my own fate frightened me.

"Why the long face?" Dale said jokingly with a grandfatherly smile, sitting next to me.

"Nothing much. I'm just uncomfortable with our excursion to Atlanta." I shook my head.

"Worrying too much won't change anything, son." Dale shook his head. "Nothing in life is ever certain. Even though a lot of things can go wrong, you should never forget that a lot of things can go well too." He sighed. "People often forget that, fixating on the bad aspects of life instead of the good."

"My mind doesn't work that way. I prefer the 'Assume the worse, hope for the best' approach."

"Maybe it's time to change your ways then." Dale suggested. "As old and inflexible as I am, I still do my best to change whenever I feel the need to."

"What if I am right then?" I challenged. "What if this does end up being a bad mistake, and my cynicism was right? Because my guts are screaming at me not to go anywhere near the CDC. The only reason I will be going there is that everyone else is."

"You could be right, of course, I never said otherwise." Dale said placatingly. "But you could also be wrong, is my point. We do not know, nobody does."

"Maybe you're right." I conceded. "I guess we'll see how it goes." I sighed in defeat, but honestly, I doubt I'll set foot in the CDC. Right now, I have two options, and wasn't entirely sure which one would be the best for my situation.

- The next day -

"Everybody listen up. Those of you with CBs (Citizen Band Radio), we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, alright?" Shane instructed. "Now, you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Nobody said anything. "Now come on, let's go. Let's move out."

And so, we set out on our journey. I was restless and undecided the whole time, not having made my mind yet, or perhaps I was looking for a better solution.

We drove for three hours, the entire time in silence. I could feel the tension in the air, once we entered the City. We didn't meet any hordes of walkers on the way, even though there were a few stragglers.

That is until the RV started making weird sounds that clearly signaled a malfunction. Dale, who was driving it, honked once, and everyone stopped their vehicles, albeit it was unnecessary; we could clearly hear the sounds coming from the RV. We got out and went to check what was wrong.

"What's the matter?" Rick asked worriedly. Dale and Jim were checking what caused the issue, and after five minutes they came to an understanding.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose..." Dale sighed. "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

"Can you jury-rig it?"

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose at this point." Dale shook his head. "And I'm out of duct tape." He added.

"I see something up ahead." Shane remarked, holding his binoculars. "A gas station if we're lucky. Hey Rick, you wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead and see what I can bring back." Rick nodded.

"Yeah, I'll come along too." T-Dog said. "I'll back you up."

"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back."

I took my book and started reading again. I have a lot of time to kill, might as well do something productive with it. Amy came to chat for a while, I went back to my book right after. I also worked out for a bit, went for a run around us to see if I could spot any walkers in the distance.

It took them a few hours to fix the RV, after which we drove off immediately.